Exit Interview: Michael Blazek

Last year, I spent the time immediately after the season examining each player that had made an appearance in St. Louis during the season. This series was well received and so I’m bringing this idea back for the 2013 offseason. More summaries than anything, I imagine the player coming into Mike Matheny‘s office and having a short conference before heading home for the winter. Stats are just the ones accumulated for the Cardinals during the regular season.

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Positives: Blazek climbed his way up the ladder and made it to St. Louis, which is a positive in its own right. He was unscored upon in his first three outings and if you take out the two terrible outings he had, his ERA was just a shade over 2.00. He was not necessarily the most heralded of prospects, but he had a good live arm and averaged a strikeout per inning before being traded to Milwaukee for John Axford.

Negatives: The two terrible outings were doozies, as he combined for six runs in 1.2 innings in those games against Houston and Cincinnati. His command was shaky as well–many of those runs in the Houston came due to him walking three batters, including one with the bases loaded. With the other strong arms in the Cardinal pen, he was expendable.

Outlook: He was a bit more successful with the Brewers, though he still walked three in seven innings. He may need a little more minor league seasoning, but there’s no obvious reason why he can’t be a serviceable bullpen arm for Milwaukee in years to come.